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CTiRTJUS 

On the seizure and abduction of American 
Citizens from Madawaska. 



No. 1. 

The repeated outrage perpetrated on the citizens of tins State 
from New Brunswick demands an energetic interposition of execu- 
tive authority. If there is any occasion, which requires that the 
forms of society should be rendered effective for the preservation 
of its principles, it is when its members are assaulted and seized 
upon its soil, and carried away by force. Whether this is done, as 
in the instance of Morgan, from within, or as was the case of Baker 
from without, the moral existence or a community pretending to 
afford any security to the rights of persons, is equally nullified, and 
laws of life and liberty are set at defiance. Protection is an 

"air of no less importance at the circumference than the centre. 

even becomes more material as the situation for receiving it is 
more remote. When circulation ceases,or becomes low and feeble 
at the extremities, it indicates a deficiency in the active, vital pow- 
ers of the system. This is a subject on which no government can 
be safe or respectable without discharging its whole duty. If there 
is ever a limit to endurance, it must be when there is no bound nor 
end to aggression ; and when the injury is carried to a point involv- 
ing the total surrender and annihilation of the State's control over 
its territory. 

Four years ago a determination was manifested on the part of 
the British Agents on our border to seize the territory which they 
had most extraordinarily drawn into dispute, as a security for (lie 
result of the construction they had contrived to put upon the Treaty 
of Ghent. First, they began with cutting off the trees and strip- 
ping the territory of" timber. Next they issued summary process 
for ejecting the inhabitants who were settled on the lands within 
the American line, sweeping the Aroostook and the upper branches 
of the St. John. Finally one of our citizens holding his land under 
the grant of Massachusetts and Maine, by virtue of a joint resolve, 
was seized, imprisoned, condemned, and punished. The spirit of 
the State was aroused and a resolution was adopted by the Legis- 
lature which still remains on our Statute book, unexpired and unre- 
pealed, providing in the strongest and most pointed terms against 
the recurrence of similar acts of violence and invasion. 

The usurpation of the provincial government of New Brunswick 
alluded to in the above enactment had, in its beginning, beeii applied 
to the primitive French settlement at the mouth of the river Mada- 
waska. This was twelve miles below the more recent settlement 
at the village of Mariumpticook, which, together with that at Fish 
river, were strictly and properly American. The settlers moved 
there, principally from other parts of Maine, after the running of 
the great north line pursuant to the treaty of J815. Nevertheless 
the local authorities of New Brunswick undertook to extend their 
civil and municipal jurisdiction over the whole tract. This they 
undertook to do while the discussion was pending, by which they 
pretended that all proceedings were suspended and all rights to be 
determined. This course was adopted on their part after Maine 
became a separate State, and subsequent to the French settlement 
itself being claimed as coming within the State by its first Execu- 
tive. Further than this, the Legislature of New Brunswick pro- 



2 

ceeded to incorporate the whole compass of contested territory into 
one large town or parish by the name of Kent. The Legislature 
of Maine have done no more in incorporating a tract within the 
same territory. The King of Holland finds no highlands within 
the sense of the treaty on the south side of the river St. John. So 
far no objection can exist to the act of incorporation. Neither have 
the provincial functionaries any right to complain of our enlarging 
it over the whole breadth comprised in the treaty and not compre- 
hended in prior surveys. The opinion of the Dutch potentate es- 
tablishes the fact that there are no dividing highlands except beyond 
the St. John, unless they are to be found in the bottom of it. But 
if that should most absurdly be the limit, there is a large sufficiency 
to satisfy the act of incorporation on this side of the river. 

Knowing however of the act of the Legislature, the measures 
recently employed by the crown officers of New Brunswick can 
only be considered as aimed at the high authority of the State in 
the persons of these humble citizens. They might as well have 
undertaken to seize the magistrate of the County of Penobscot who 
issued his warrant, or the Chief Magistrate of the State, or the 
members of the Supreme Court if they had been found in the 
territory. This may not be dismissed without being made the sub- 
ject of further remark. CURT1US. 



]\o. 3. 

lam a Roman Citizen. 

This was a cry, which, although it might be uttered in vain and 
deprived of immediate effect at a great distance from Rome, was 
never heard with indifference, or disregarded, when it reached the 
heart of the imperial and immortal Metropolis. It is an appeal 
with which we are familiar from our school books; it is a claim 
which is consecrated by our Constitutions ; it is echoed from the 
inmost sentiments of mankind in every country. 

It is not necessary to dwell on the obligation of a State to protect 
its citizens; or to insist how essential it is to the character of a State 
to be able to do so. Without that the whole system of society is 
but a baseless fabric, merely built on stubble. Our contributions 
are paid, our duties performed, and all our hopes from government 
in the last resort are in vain. We cannot lay our heads upon our 
pillows in peace, if such a confession of weakness is for a moment 
admitted in the structure over our heads. As for any safety from 
the good ship of State in which we are all as one embarked, we 
might as well be on board the unfortunate Rothsay Castle, unable 
to stand the elements around — when the water is working into the 
engine, and not steam enough to save her from destruction. 

The Americans, who settled above Madawaska, went there first 
from the head of the Kennebec, and planted themselves on the 
banks of the St. John, under the full belief of being on American 
Territory. They were invited by the opportunity afforded for set- 
tlement upon the return of peace, with the usual and characteristic 
alacrity of our population to take an enterprizing position as pion- 
eers, as soon as the obstructions to the culture and improvement of 
the country are removed out of the way. Some of them were 
induced to accept grants of land tendered them by the laws of 
Massachusetts and this State, since the separation. Again and 
again, assurances were extended to them of quiet and protection. 
Again and again, it must be acknowledged, these guarantees have 
been falsified and their complaints neglected. Again and again, it 
is no exaggeration to say, their habitations have been broken open, 
their settlement broken up, and they themselves banished into the 
wilderness, or carried off captive, by beat of drum. 

Twice have they come upon our frontier from New Brunswick 






5 

l'pon vvlint condition are we called upon to forego the exercise of 
this political obligation, and practice this self restraint on the part 
of the State, except on the ground that the General Government 
will take up our cause and conduct it with more force? Upon thin 
point it is apparent that all that has been done by the national au- 
thority has been attended with no effect, except to invite further 
aggression. A demand was finally made for Baker, while lie was 
in prison, through the British Minister at Washington — and refused. 
Reasons were set forth on both sides, and there the matter rested. 
Baker still remained in thraldom, lie was arraigned and under- 
went his sentence ; the subject slept in oblivion; and the submis- 
sion went on. — This was the opeiation of circumstances, while the 
title to the territory in which these things were done was in us: 
the possession was virtually in us; and we had a possession in fact 
equal to any that the British could set up — and so far superior that 
it was holden through native citizens of the State, while theirs de- 
pended on an involuntary acquiescence of a few French and the 
accidental presence and activity of one or two Irish. ]f these 
things were done in the green tree, what were we to look for in 
the dry? As Baker was abandoned, the British were emboldened. 
For one citizen in the foreign gaol at Frederickton we have now 
got four. Well treated, says the Eastport paper ; but what does 
that signify ? What is this to the purpose? Disguise it, as any 
apology may, it is still a bitter draught. CUKT1US. 



Wo. 4. 

MADAWASKA. 
It has been suggested in a tone of accusation, and echoed with a 
note of satisfaction in a New Brunswick paper, that the incor- 
poration of the large township on the upper St. John by the 
Legislature last winter was the act of a dominant party. It would 
he more correct to say, that it was the act of the State, which on 
this subject knows no party. It was the doing of the people of 
Maine, who, in regard to this point, are undivided and indivisible. 
In point of fact the measure was adopted will) the most entire 
unanimity. Certain it is that the particular member of the legislative 
body, who was chairman of the house on the general question, and 
was considered the most efficient individual engaged in the nieas- 
sure, did not belong to what may be denominated the ruling party — 
for our political divisions are no secret to the adversary — and that 
the ruling party, if there was such a party, evidently divested them- 
selves of every operative principle on the occasion except that of 
pure, faithful, patriotic obligation. 

And what good reason can be given why this measure should 
not have been adopted ? What valid objection can he assigned to 
its having received legislative consideration earlier? The Parish 
of Kent comprehending alt that was included in the act of last winter 
was incorporated by the Legislature of New Brunswick in 1625. 
Fver since our people have been there, and recognized and con- 
firmed in their bein^ there by legislative resolves and executive 
acts of the two States, Massachusetts and Maine, they have been 
destitute of any sort of municipal organization or local opportunity 
for representation in any shape in and among the public councils 
of their fellow-citizens. The inconveniences, the exactions, and 
the oppressions, to which they have been subjected in this absence 
and interregnum of proper civil authority in that quarter, have 
been very considerable. The irregular jurisdiction which they 
have been called upon and required to obey in the name of justice 
as it has been administered by Messieurs Rice, Mnclauchlan, &c. one 
within and the other without this State, has been productive of any- 



6 

thing luit justice. On one occasion lliis "Mr. Justice Rice" as lie 
is termed in (lie Provincial official report, issued a summons for a 
person to appear before him and answer to a suit commenced in 
his own behalf. Measures for the civil protection of the community, 
coming within our laws in that section were imperiously demand- 
ed ; and no steps were so obvious to be taken as those which might 
afford the population settled in that quarter the opportunity to ex- 
press their free consent to the forms by which we are accustomed 
to conduct our local affairs, and to meet in peace for that purpose, 
without being overawed by any exhibition of force from this State. 

But is it, that we must now be patiently submissive to these acts 
of violence and aggression from New Brunswick, because of the 
present state of the question, by which the bed of the St. John is 
made the division line, while the provincial posse is hotly pursuing 
and imprisoning our people on both sides of the river without dis- 
tinction of any kind ? Is this to be a boundary line to us, and 
no limit at all imposed to them ? If there is any thing in the occa- 
sion since the ostensible award of the late Netherland Monarch has 
been communicated to our government, which prescribes consider- 
ation and forbearance, is it a rule that operates on one side only ? 
Is it a command merely addressed to us, or does it apply to all ? 
Further, if the consequences of collision are to be deprecated and 
avoided, is it to be done, only by sending a force from below and 
driving all those, who owe their allegiance to this State, off the 
river? Is peace to be observed upon the territory late in contro- 
versy only by our entire and abject submission ? Pass not the Ibe- 
rus. What next? Touch not the Saguntum. Saguntum is on the 
Iberus! And so on, — till one usurpation is made the pretext for 
another ; anil we are to be marched off the territory, as we have 
been manceuvercd out of a portion of our original Treaty title to it. 

Are we to be told then, that any active proceeding on our part 
may occasion difficulty in the happy adjustment of the boundary 
question ; and is this consideration of so hopeful and satisfactory a 
kind as to put an extinguisher upon our natural interest as a com- 
munity in the protection of our fellow citizens? Is there not diffi- 
culty already created to our hands and present in one of the most 
anxious forms it can assume to our minds? Is this consideration 
also to be insisted upon exclusively to us, as if our consciences 
oidy were concerned either in the causes, or the consequences? 
as if we were solely responsible for the occasion, or our acquies- 
cence would at once remove all the evil. Is the boon held out so 
great, to induce us to submission ? Must we make a sacrifice not 
only of part of the State, but of the whole of our self-respect as a 
State ? Must we be led moreover like a lamb to the slaughter, -and 
be dumb under the knife of the operator; and required to witness 
with meekness and patience the process of dismemberment ? 

CURTIUS. 



No. 5. 

CONCLUSION. 

We do not attempt to disguise to ourselves the difficulty of our 
situation in Maine. We are alarmed by others; and we are justly 
alarmed ourselves, at the position in which we are placed, — strait- 
ened between the observance of not opposite, but diverse, obliga- 
tions, — balanced between the importance of protecting our own 
citizens and preventing any serious injury to the peace of the 
country: These are considerations sufficient to try the stoutest 
breast, and to impress the deepest anxiety. We have no military 
prefect stationed among us, for our security, entrusted with a dis- 
posable force, and armed with discretionary instructions from the 



3 

and carried away our citizens with force and arms. A second time 
have our citizens been thus imprisoned hy a foreign power in what 
Mr. Barrel, the United States' Agent, declared to he a loathsome 
gaol. Now, let the question he asked, what if we had done the 
same in regard to the provincial intruders on our territory, while 
thrown hy them into dispute, and had seized their Mr. Justice Bice, 
sometime officiating as Adjutant of Militia, or their Captain Coombes, 
a recent comer and commissioned officer at Madawaska. These 
persons and several others, chiefly emigrant Irish, under their influ- 
ence, are within our lines. These principals have been more or 
less active and officious, and some of them have rendered them- 
selves particularly prominent in acts and measures of opposition to 
the authority anil rights of this State; as much so, to say the least, 
as Baker, and Bacon, Harford, Hunewell, Savage, Powers, VVhee- 
lock, and Bean can have made themselves obnoxious to the powers 
of New Brunswick, — and might at least with equal propriety on 
our part have been dealt with as subjects to, and under the penalties 
of, our laws. But we have not only suffered these persons to reside 
there and pursue their ordinary occupations, without molestation, 
but to be made instruments of oppressing, and harrassing, and 
driving away our own peaceful citizens. Let this circumstance be 
duly considered and regarded as a test of the moderation and pru- 
dence of Maine by any who may be disposed to accuse her of hav- 
ing been precipitate in resorting to proceedings of self-preservation. 
The truth is she has always been too late, while her antagonist has 
been on the alert and beforehand on all occasions, so as to prevent 
her from even opposing the power of resistance. 

It is rather the more uncomfortable and humiliating to be thus 
braved and trampled upon from New Brunswick, reflecting that 
this is really the least important of the British dependencies on 
our frontier — one of which we have vastly the advantage in point 
of physical force — and which has not the smallest pretension to 
extend her jurisdiction in any degree west of the line due north from 
the St. Croix to the St. Lawrence. In his military capacity the 
Lieutenant Governor of New Brunswick is subordinate both to the 
Governor of Nova Scotia and the Governor General of Canada. 
There has been no occasion since we became an independent State 
when we have not been perfectly competent to protect ourselves, 
and had ample means for the purpose in our own hands, but for our 
habitual deference and regard to the constitutional faculties of the 
Union. These powers have been employed, first to put our title to 
a part of the State in jeopardy; and then to restrain us from exer- 
cising our rights over the territory in question. If any thing could 
aggravate outrages to which we have been subjected, it is the 
indignity of being assailed in the most vital and sensitive point of 
a State, to wit, the power of protecting its faithful and dependent 
citizens. CURTIUS. 



]Vo. 3. 

"By the rivers of Babylon w« sat down." 

Reference has been made to the fact that within a few years 
past, and since the separation of this State, the British Province of 
New Brunswick has asserted a claim to the entire and exclusive 
possession of the whole extent of what it has been pleased to de- 
nominate disputed territory. The only pretension they could pos- 
sibly set up on the score of actual possession was to a little corner 
at the extremity of Madawaska across which a Canadian boatman 
had been accustomed to convey the mail. Before the peace of 1763 
and the conquest of Canada, this spot was considered by the French 
to be within their limits, and grants were said to be made of fiefs 



upon services to be performed at the Castle of St. Lewis at Quebec. 
The usurpation of the Province of New Brunswick was necessarily 
limited at the, outside to the simple French settlement over which 
they finally undertook to extend their sway. In the absence of 
actual and positive occupation the most that could be made of it 
by any power was, that possession followed Iht right. West of the 
meridian from St. Croix the government of New Brunswick bad no 
sort of title to go at all; and in the opinion even of their partial 
friend, the King of Holland, the British had no claim to the south 
bank ol the St. John. 

The right of Maine to the possession was coextensive with her 
title to the territory, determined by the Treaty of 1783. The of- 
fensive pretensions, by which she has been ousted, or attempted to 
be divested, of the possession of the whole country from Mars Hill 
to the head waters of the Penobscot and Kennebec, and our peo- 
ple ejected and expelled from the country, are too familiar to re- 
i|uire fresh detail. It is sufficient to say, that they have been of the 
most audacious and unscrupulous description; they have been car- 
ried into execution with a high hand ; and the local administration 
of New Brunswick has assumed the dominion of the whole section 
of this State intercepted between the adjacent British Provinces. 
The impressment of our citizens at sea, once practised by Great 
Britain herself, has been imitated by the imprisonment of our citi- 
zens on land within the bounds of New Brunswick.* The energy 
with which the government of the Union has demanded indemnity 
for the spoliations of our commerce on the ocean, and in foreign 
countries, has warranted a reliance that it would not overlook the 
absolute robbery of our citizens themselves from their homes and 
farms and families; and the Slate, having on its admission into the 
federation surrendered the most important power of vindicating its 
own rights, has been continually admonished and pressed to await 
the tardy progress of public measures for the final consummation of 
its long deferred hopes and indissoluble claims. 

During the whole course of these systematic proceedings on the 
part of New Brunswick we have been called upon to fold our arms 
as quiet spectators, while the virtue of forbearance has been stead- 
fastly inculcated upon us, — as if there could be no harm or danger 
to result except from our aversion to submission. We have been 
urged not to abate of our worthy confidence in the wise and pater- 
nal measures of the national government, which our own immature 
ami ill timed proceedings might only serve to embarrass. — It were 
perhaps well if this Epicurean philosophy, which has been preached 
to us, had some portion of influence upon those, who were entrust- 
ed with a little brief authority elsewhere. It has been our lot to 
receive both the infliction and the reproof. We have been taught 
to repress and subdue the Spartan spirit, and still not permitted to 
remain in security or repose. It has been Peace, Peace to us, when 
there has been no peace for us. Why all this for us". 1 Why. it 
may be asked, is this virtue of patience and forbearance all reserved 
for our use? Why are we alone to be confined to remonstrances? 
We have seized no British subjects, made no reprisals, committed 
no foreign offenders on our soil to prison. Why are we therefore 
to be thus called upon to be entirely passive and enduring, and to 
abandon our fellow citizens to their destiny, forgetful alike of their 
just demands and our own important duties? 

*The seizure of four American seamen on board the V. IS. frigate Chesapeake, 
by the act of a British officer on our coast. \\;is deemed such an outrage on the 
character of the country and the security of its tbi,*. tli;it its voice demanded the 
most complete and effectual vindication. The failure of the unfortunate Barron 
to do his whole duty, in defending Ins ship under the most unfavorable circumstan 
ces on that extraordinary occasion, was the cause, not onlv of depriving his country 
ol in% own important services in the events which followed, but of the final loss of 
those of the gallant, lamented Decatuk. 



government of the United States. We have no power to prefect 
ourselves without calling out the militia, except by an appeal to the 
authority of the Union to interpose for our defence against foreign 
and hostile aggressions. We have a law yet green upon our statute 
book from the occasion on which it is enacted, that if fresh airffres 
sions be made by the government of the Province of New Bruns- 
wick upon the territory of this State and upon its citizens and sea 
sonable protection shall not be given by the United Stales, the Governor 
is required to employ all proper and constitutional means in his 
power to protect and defend those citizens in the enjoyment of their 

The [.roper arm of the State, when that of the Magistrate fails 
is undoubtedly the mditia. This is the species of force, which has 
been made use of from the Province under the color of civil author 
ity covered by the presence of the High Sheriff and Attorney Gen- 
eral. The Governor of New Brunswick was also there, thoueh it 
does not appear that he crossed over to this side of the river where 
several of our citizens lived, who were seized. It is observable 
that the Lieutenant Governor of New Brunswick, did not brine 
with him a regular military force from Frederickton upon this ex- 
pedition, although he has one at command. This perhaps was not 
merely prudential ; but though it is probable there were eeneral 
instructions to his predecessor, which the present executive of that 
Province has received and adopted for his own guidance, it may be 
well doubted whether such an act as that of detaching a portion of 
the British army upon this errand would not have been upon his 
own responsibility, and whether such an exertion of his ^Ja,,,,.,,, .- 
would be approved by the present British Ministry. This niodhVd 
application of force from New Brunswick is a mark at once ofhom 
age to our title to the country, and of hesitation in the exercise of 
authority. It is granted however in our case, and it is implied 




of which no law of the union deprives the State of the legitimate 
command and use; and neither the late domestic occasion at Prov- 
idence, or the recent occurrences upon our own frontier, dictate 
any diminution of its strength and efficacy. 

An obvious evil arises out of the present threatening aspect of 
things to this State ; and a conclusion from it will probably be 
pressed upon us, in order to turn this aggression from New Bruns- 
wick to our disadvantage. The decision of the King of Holland 
such as it is, is one that ought not to be accepted ; and we are not 
only menaced with the consequences, but visited beforehand with 
the penalties of disobedience to this unwarrantable sort of award. 
Its effect is to be forced upon us by our own fears, or exciting those 
of the country ; and we are now to be spell bound in anticipation of 
the meeting of the national council about to assemble as the consti- 
tutional advisers of the Chief Magistrate of the Republic at the 
Capitol. 

To the Government of the United States we certainly look with 
earnestness and respect; and trust to its patriotic spirit and fidelity 
to the constitution, and the principles of all our constitutions, for 
protection and support. The power of the union is our sheet- 
anchor ; and we entirely and freely confess, that if we are deserted 
and abandoned by that, we have no alternative worth the experi- 
ment, short of the last extremity. But what is to be done in the 
interval ? It will be two months before any thing can come from 
the meeting of Congress ; and there is little progress made during 
the Christmas Holidays. Winter is approaching ; and the people, 
who have been hunted from their homes, must abandon them, and 



fuvrt Aj 



s 

seek shelter for themselves and families where haply they ran find 
it, or return ami make their peace with the provincial warden of the 
Territory by taking the oath of allegiance to his Britannic Majesty's 
Government. Shall and ought the authorities and people of this 
Slate to" suffer the obligations of their constitution and laws to pass 
unredeemed? Can and will the National Government take season- 
able and sufficient measures for the effectual relief of these prison- 
era and this persecuted population ? And what can be done by the 
State in discharge of its own duty and consistently with its relation 
to the whole country, in aid or advance of the national authority ? 
The occasion is imminent, imperious, impressive. Forbearance on 
our part is stretched to the extreme point. We call aloud upon the 
Union for interference and protection. We hold our liberties, and 
all our rights at this rate, at the mercy of his Majesty's Lieutenant 
Governor of New Brunswick. Failing all other resource, we repeat 
the question that has been publicly put, what should protect the 
British gaol at Frederictou from being delivered by the arms of the 
United States, when our own soil could not afford protection to its 
citizens from die hist degree of hostile violence and aggression — from seizure and 
conveyance by force to a foreign prison ? — Where is the virtue of the old Roman at 
the head of the nation, if tins practice is to be pursued with impunity ? Whe/e is 
the spirit of the country, of which, when once effectually roused by foreign aggress- 
sion, lie is the personification ; and us such, and on that account, more than any 
other, he was advanced to the dignified station he now holds 1 .Shall the ( 'liiel Mag- 
istrate of this Federal and free Republic be thus bearded by the Lieutenant Gover- 
nor of a petty Provincial Establishment on our border ? And shall it abide a brand 
upon the' escutcheon of this administration, that four of its citizens have been had- 
knapped upon the territory of one of these United States, and carried away captive 
b^v. Iprce, to await the behest of anv foreign, civil or military tribunal upon the conti- 
nent ? Then indeed is the standard of our national sovereignty lowered, its glories 
are gone, and its ensigns dishonored and degraded. 

Use will probably be made of this opportunity, on the part of the British, without 
perhaps op* !y a'owing and justifying the act of aggression, to urge the territorial 
question to an issue on the basis of the award of the late King of the Netherlands. 
But why is it not tit that the fact should be 1 1 r - 1 ascertained, whether the British 

Government adopts and supports this act of !!"■ '' "^'"' ' '': \ ri ' " " Lvl * '•' "' 

so. we admit at once, that it becomes entirely a national aflair. and that as a Stale 
.1. . ., inuj.ec lo sav on the subject except through the medium ot the gen- 
ei.it unveniiucifr. -"ftfiy % %), 1»S„.„| ls „ „,„ proper that the government should 
refuse to act in anv manner on the award until these «mmi are restored and reparation 
made ? Let our Senators and Representatives in Congress, so far as it depends ■<„ 
them, consider well what belongs to the honor and interest of the Slalo on tins subject 

I here is no danger but we shall hold to the St. John, it being admitted there are 
no dividing highlands on tins side of it. If a variation of the line is required for po- 
litical causes, as it can only be done with the consent of this State, let the State 
receive some other sufficient and substantial territorial equivalent than the release of 
Rouse's Point. Rut let suitable atonement be made, as a preliminary, for the viola- 
ted rights of the Slate and of its citizens. Let that be the first condition on which 
any discussion of the award shall be admitted. Even the Umpire himself, pressed 
as he since has been to the wall, had the spirit to resist signing any compact of par- 
tition with his Belgian Embassy, with the pistol at his throat. It is 'by no means lo be 
certainly assumed that the British Government will justify the violent measures of 
its subalterns. We should wait to be informed before we should impute them to anv 

recent instructions from the present liberal British Ministry. We hav proof of 

any hostile policy or unfriendly disposition in that quarter. We have yet to learn 
whether this aggression is any thing more than an act of petty provincial police on 
the part ol New Brunswick— however respectable may be the personal character ,.| 
the present Lieutenant Governor or his political advisers — without anv particular con- 
cert with Nova Scotia or Canada, or proper directions from the British Representa- 
tive at Washington. It is impossible not to see, that these acts and measures of die 
provincial authority operate as punishment upon the people of the Stale and of the 
United States. Every body understands, that the lines imposed upon ihe prisoners 
at Fivdorickton are to be necessarily paid out of the Slate or National Treasury 
and that an indemnity to the sufferers must be eventually realized from the same 
quarter. The States are as much aimed at in these acts of violence, as if Messrs 
Deane and Kavanaugh, or Rose and Coffin were the objects of them. Is ll not 
rather too much that the Province of New Brunswick should be suffered to deal in 
this manner with the sovereign authority of the Uniled Slates ? CI IiTIUS. 




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